A poor first half followed by an entertaining second half, and a characteristically improbable comeback from United.

Villa had an injury crisis in midfield, starting Barry Bannan and Jonathan Hogg in the centre. Gabriel Agbonlahor came in upfront, with Ashley Young just behind.

United also had injury problems, with Paul Scholes also unavailable through suspension. They reverted to 4-4-2 with Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov upfront, while Ji-Sung Park continued on the left.

The first half was a static, uninspired contest that neither side wanted to take the initative in. Both teams had a problem retaining position high up the pitch; Berbatov and Hernandez had terrible games for United, whilst Villa looked slightly unaccustomed to not having a ‘big man’ playing a classic hold-up role, although Agbonlahor did this job reasonably well at times.

In many ways the first half was similar to the Manchester Derby on Wednesday – neither were in charge, both presumably wanted to play on the counter-attack. It was somewhat of a stand-off – the only player in any space was Ashley Young, who was causing Michael Carrick problems.

Carrick wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to be getting goalside of Young or battling Villa’s young players higher up the pitch, and Young should have made more of the space he found himself in – his use of the ball was poor. In turn, Carrick was less of an impact on the game than he was in midweek, as here he had more defensive duties. It was 4-4-2 v 4-4-2, the game was stretched, and the midfielders weren’t connecting with the attackers.

The most promising attacking player was Stewart Downing, who was putting some good crosses into the box. Park played very centrally, and in turn Marc Albrighton moved into a narrow position when he didn’t have the ball. Patrice Evra was surprisingly quiet in an attacking sense.

Second half switch

The first significant action of the game – in tactical and entertainment terms – came on 58 minutes when Sir Alex Ferguson switched to a 4-2-3-1 system. This meant Park playing more permanently in the centre, Nani going across to the left and Hernandez shifting out to the right. In theory this made sense – United were having such problems with the interplay between the midfield and the forwards that moving to a shape where they could get the ball forward more gradually was the right approach.

However, as United moved up the pitch into this shape, they seemed to leave more space in behind, and this played into the hands of Villa’s pacey front four. Transitions instantly became a lot more promising for the home side and they found it easier to get the ball forward quickly.

Villa goals

Both their goals came from direct play and outpacing United at the back. First, Young’s first-time ball from the centre of the pitch saw Agbonlahor skin Vidic, before laying it back across to Young, who was fouled by Brown. He converted the penalty himself.

Just four minutes later another quick counter saw United exposed – this time it was Stewart Downing and Marc Albrighton that combined for a wonderful goal, and United looked beaten. Downing’s crossing Chalkboard shows a lot of unsuccessful crosses (which is a slightly harsh reflection of his performance) but the sheer number of balls he puts into the box is very impressive.

United responded by pumping crosses into the box themselves – Rio Ferdinand met one and hammered a shot that was cleared off the line – on 79 minutes this was, amazingly, the first time United had got a shot on target. Substitute Federico Macheda squeezed a shot into the top corner from the edge of the box to get United back in it, before Vidic’s header, his third of this season – from a similar position to Ferdinand’s effort – made it 2-2.

United’s intention to simply hang crosses into the box was confirmed when Ferguson replaced Park Ji-Sung with young centre-back Chris Smalling. Smalling went upfront as an additional centre-forward, though the bigger threat came from fellow substitute Gabriel Obertan’s pace. Smalling’s introduction upfront suggests that (notwithstanding injuries), United still don’t have enough variety in attacking positions.

Conclusion

Villa had far more chances than United in this game, and overall played much better football. In addition to the two goals they hit the woodwork twice in the second half, whilst Albrighton missed a simple header from an excellent Downing cross. They were helped by United pushing forward more, which left space in behind, where the pace of their attacking players was more obvious.

United’s unbeaten record this season now contains more draws than victories. The negatives today came all over the pitch. They defended poorly – possibly too high up the pitch for the players they were facing – and conceded too many chances. Their midfield failed to get the better of two very inexperienced Villa players in the centre, and didn’t create enough chances themselves. The forward two both had awful games – Hernandez can be excused the odd poor performance considering his excellent start to his United career, but Berbatov looked off the pace, and his one effort on goal was a miserable scuffed toe-poke.

Picking up points when playing poorly is notoriously the key for successful sides, but equally that rule implies that ‘playing poorly’ is in the odd game here and there, not a consistent run of underwhelming performances.

33 Responses to “ Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United: Villa move into commanding position but United hit back ”

Mark on November 13, 2010 at 4:35 pm

Carrick is a quality player in my opinion, but he works best with a destroyer alongside him. The system that is mentioned on the United v City thread, the 4-3-3, 4-5-1 with a playmaker and a destroyer, and an advanced midfielder, Tiago, Makelele, Lampard was the example used. Getting Hargreaves fit and ready could be the difference between winning the league and not winning the league for United.

What United are missing in my opinion, is a little bit of creativity in midfield. I’m a big fan of Fletcher, he works very hard, presses well and fits in well if you want a midfielder to do a specific job on someone, but he lacks a little bit of guile, and basically he’s playing the advanced midfielder role, basically what Ozil does for Madrid. That said, Fletcher did extremely well to set up Macheda for the goal. Think Fergie missed a trick by not snapping up VDV, who looks like a class act. Can Rooney play the role with Berba up top?

Quick note on Downing, immense performance. I’ve always rated him, and have always had to deal and argue when people criticise him. Downing is a throwback to old wingers. Gets the ball, attacks the full back, delivers a dangerous ball. He got one assist today, and also delivered two fantastic balls that very nearly led to goals. You know what you’re gonna get from Downing, none of this cutting inside and playing a meaningless square pass. He’s also very willing to carry out defensive duties. If SWP is in the England squad and Downing isn’t, I give up on England.

I would disagree about Carrick needing a destroyer. In his first season for us he was mostly employed in a 4-4-2 alongside Paul Scholes and he was brilliant. He has just been poor for the least 2 seasons, nowt to do with the system or partner/s. But spot on about lack of creativity at United. Aside from Scholes and there is no one really who can do that on a consistent basis.

Ian Holloway on November 13, 2010 at 7:03 pm

I too disagree that Carrick needs a destroyer because he is the destroyer (albeit not in the De Jong mode, more of the Busquets / Mikel mode) himself.

Tim on November 13, 2010 at 8:31 pm

If United had more forwards with the ability to find space, ie Ozil. I think that Carrick would be able to feed him the ball all day long. I think a lack of movement is having an effect on Carrick’s passing range, I rarely see Park or Nani getting enough space between themselves and the fullback for Carrick or Scholes to pick out the cross field passes. United have been playing very narrow in the games Carrick has played. United only possess one player willing to run in behind the defence in Hernandez. Berbatov, Rooney and Nani all want the ball played to feet and so lot of United’s attacking play is in front of the defenders.

It could also be down to opposition teams playing very deep, they will know that Carrick and Scholes could kill them with passes through or over the top but will also know that Carrick and Scholes are weak when pressed. Unlike the Scholes of a few years ago who was near impossible to press in possession and mark when out of possession. The opposition would drop off and not waste there energy chasing Scholes around the pitch, leaving Carrick in lots of space to pick out the passes you mention.

I hear the term “creativity” mentioned a lot in regards to United Midfield, I just think it has more to do with how the game has evolved and the lack of attacking variety United have in the forward line.
Carrick was at his best next to Scholes, who is not a destroyer but a retainer, And with a forward line of Saha, Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo

Totally agree with you. I’m a huge fan of Carrick, he’s superb at screening and ball retention (especially when teams don’t press), but he’s not really a “take the game by the scruff of the neck” style of player. In terms of creativity, I think SAF has been reluctant to use fantasistas in the Özil/VdV mould. Even in the earlier incarnation of this side, most of the penetration would come from Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez zooming in from wide or deep positions. In 06/07, the season that United played 4-2-3-1 most explicitly, it was usually Rooney or Giggs playing in the hole; but neither could really be classified as primarily link-men.

Agreed that Downing was very good today; both he and Albrighton may not have had great passing stats, but more importantly they were very direct, and got into excellent positions, delivered a lot of balls into the box, and generally gave their fullbacks a roasting.

3rnald0 on November 13, 2010 at 8:15 pm

fletcher plays a completely different role to Ozil. Ozil plays as a trequarista just behind the striker and his starting position is high up the pitch very close to Higuain, where Fletcher is a box to box player, meaning he makes forward runs, but from a deeper midfield position.

Anything above a 30% success rate on crosses for a winger seems to be good. Downing had 37.5% successful in this game so yeah, despite it looking a bit grim with all the red on the chalkboard, it was actually a very efficient crossing performance.

For all the talk of extra defensive duties for Carrick he made only 2 tackles. Above I mentioned his first season, his defending was stellar, great positioning, and quiet and efficient tackles, on top of that he provided very good passing, second only to Scholes in range and accuracy. Yet this season, the past two actually, Carrick just disappeared somewhere. He used to make those 40 yards crossfield passes that Paul is so famous for. Or great through balls. Now we see mostly square passes ranging mostly from 5 to 10 yards. His positioning has not been all that great either. Its as if he just lost the ability to read the game. And he seems to have no confidence.

About the game. United were absolutely rubbish. We deserved nothing from this game. It was daylight robbery. A dire performance by almost all United players on the pitch today. The central defenders were left unprotected by the fullbacks and midfield a lot of times. Its just shocking that we keep giving up those silly goals time after time this season. van der Saar used to be one of the most bored players in the League. Now we need him to save us many a time. We can still score, despite obviously lacking in creativity, even with Giggs, Rooney and Valencia out for sometime now. But our defending must improve. Evra as a defensive player has been very poor since this spring. His mistakes cost us a lot in the past months.

matt on November 13, 2010 at 6:52 pm

There are obviously a lot of issues with United, so i’ll focus on one, Park. Park is playing in a narrow midfielder role in a 4-4-2, and this is not playing to his strengths. Park is not patient or creative enough to play as an “interior” (term from Villareal article), and also fails to have a defensive impact there. United should play with him at the top of a midfield 3 to shut down the deep lying playmaker or as a defensive forward to shut down a strong attacking fullback, but never outside a 4-5-1. I would have played the former option, allowing Carrick to mark Young tighter, and pulling Hernandez wide left, Nani wide right, and Berbatov in the middle. This would encourage Evra to push forward more, also a plus for the attack.

thanks! I do understand that Hernandez/Berbatov are more limited tactical players than Ronaldo/Rooney (though very talented nonetheless), but I think it would have produced a better display than this. I agree with Mark who posted earlier, that Man U should have gone after one of the versatile, talented, and intelligent trequartista’s available last summer. He probably went after Silva/Ozil but couldn’t match the fee (not his fault), but easily could have outbid Spurs for VDV. VDV is making Peter Crouch an effective target man, imagine what he could do playing off the superior Berbatov or Hernandez.

Elwood on November 14, 2010 at 5:13 am

Ozil and VDV are talented and intelligent, but they are not versatile, they can only play in the hole behind the striker. I think that was the biggest reason why no big clubs (not just Man Utd) bothered to chase VDV even when he was obviously not wanted at Madrid and was available since the 2009-10 season.

They both can also play out wide, not as classic wingers, they do come inside when out wide. But they were quite effective when employed there whether for their NT or clubs. And Bayern had a deal pretty much set for vdV though it fell apart. They are a fairly big club. And versatile or not I would have loved if we got Ozil. Madrid also did not want Robben nor Sneijder, that is not a mark on a players quality.

Elwood on November 14, 2010 at 3:49 pm

Ozil has never played on the wings, for club or country. I haven’t watched enough of Spurs, but he rarely plays on the wing as well, and the few times I watched him play there for Holland he hasn’t been really effective.

Bayern wanted to buy him because he could fit into their system, in Muller’s position behind the striker, and move Muller himself to the right-wing position he excelled in the World Cup for Germany. Which might be a good thing they didn’t get him, because Kroos is playing well.

I meant during his Hamburg days, he was fairly famous even back then, but no big clubs really bothered to make a bid for him and he went to Madrid dirt-cheap. Not much news when the Real Madrid hierarchy made it pretty obvious he wasn’t in their plans either.

I still think Man Utd didn’t get him because they rarely play with a system with an attacking midfielder. And when they do, it’s someone who is very comfortable at the wings as well (Park, Giggs). Don’t get me wrong though, I think he’s a fantastic player, just maybe not very versatile.

Anonymous on November 14, 2010 at 6:36 pm

err at Bremen he usually played as a winger before Diego left

Elwood on November 15, 2010 at 4:26 am

Nope, when Diego left Ozil played as the trequartista in a diamond behind Claudio Pizarro and Hugo Almeida, or towards the end of the season, the attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation behind Pizarro and flanked by Marin and Aaron Hunt.

Ian Holloway on November 13, 2010 at 6:59 pm

Personally I would have employed Carrick in the Busquets role. Carrick’s best performance this season all came from there – vs. City, vs. Bursaspor (both games), vs. Valencia.

Then again what do I know? We failed to beat West Ham today…

juki on November 13, 2010 at 7:01 pm

villa kids pwned man u

JediRage on November 14, 2010 at 5:59 am

That second half before United hit back in the last 10 minutes has to be the worst display I’ve seen from them in the last 10 years. Except for a 3-1 loss to Middlesborough in 02-03 and another 4-1 loss to the same team in 05-06 I think (the match for which Keane blasted the then inexperienced team of Fletcher, Ronaldo, Rio etc.).

Another rather innocuous observation but in that 02-03 game against Boro, Rio was brought on as a centerforward and I remember the commentator saying something like, “United have pushed up front a rather expensive 30 million pound striker” and yesterday, Smalling was also brought on as CF.

In any case, the game was a total disaster because as many posters have already said, there is a lack of movement on the pitch and therefore a lack of through balls being played. The only player making forward runs is Evra! WTF! There is a dominant tendency to pass to feet and run at the opposition but this is frustrating to watch because United’s players are rather lightweight and can’t just power through.

Another point I’d like to make is that United succumb to pressing too easily and to ‘average’ sides like Bolton and Villa. To be able to resist pressing, there have to be players with excellent ball control skills like Paul Scholes and sadly no one in midfield shows such control at the moment. Specifically Park. He’s immense when he’s on song but absolutely terrible when not. Carrick and Fletcher don’t resist pressing that well and aside from Berbatov none of the forwards show much resistance to it either. Ferguson will have to work on this especially since he’s determined to stick to 4-4-2 in the EPL.

It was embarrassing to watch them today and I guess SAF needs another season to make this squad a title challenger. But will he choose to retire before that? I think not.

Nikhil on November 14, 2010 at 7:09 am

United have been defensively poor ever since Carlos Queiroz left, no disrespect to Mike Phelan.
I think Carlos Quieroz is an excellent defensive organizer (I thought Bruno Alves and Ricardo Carvalho was one of the best centre back pairings at the world cup,despite other teams having better pairings on paper).
Do you think Sir Alex should bring him back as soon as his ban ends ?

DARREN WILSON on November 15, 2010 at 6:24 am

Well Chelsea’s loss at home against Sunderland has certainly limited the damage this draw has done to Utd. Your point about Querioz is an excellent one. He is a superb defensive orginiser as you have alluded to and he would be a huge improvement in this respect over Phelan. I think he would be welcomed back with open arms but what to do with Phelan? Would he go back to being a first team coach? Would he simply leave and try and find employment elsewhere? Phelan is a United man through and through and you dont want to lose guys like that from your club, although considering Chelsea have just done excatly that themselves maybe United should make a formal approach?

lets see how Uniteds shape and tempo go when Rooney comes back and plays himself into form, Quieroz may not be needed if rooney hits his straps again..!

Nikhil on November 16, 2010 at 6:24 am

Well Solskjaer is leaving in January so maybe Mike Phelan could manage the reserves.
Rooney coming back is good news though I am not sure as to what his mindset will be like.
Will he have the enthusiasm and the fire of old ? we will find out soon enough !

Anonymous on November 15, 2010 at 1:14 am

I think it is unfair to say that Man Utd played badly because the game was fairly open throughout with both sides trying to take digs at each other. I’ve seen Man U play badly a few times and I don’t think that they were that bad, in fact I felt that they were much worse against Wolves. Although given a choice I would hit at SAF for refusing to sign either Sneijder, VDV or Ozil despite being able to afford to pay for each of their transfer fees (Sneijder was signed by Inter for around 12 to 15 mil – 2 to 3 mil lesser than the amount United paid for Antonio Valencia that transfer season and Ozil by Real for 12.5 mil – slightly more than the amount paid for Smalling),United showed great team spirit by pulling 2 back despite being 2-0 down. Call it daylight robbery. Say that United lacked movement in midfield. However United came from behind to nick a draw and could have grabbed all three points and are still unbeaten. I don’t think Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal can even do that when deprived of Lampard, Gerrard and Fabregas respectively. Chelsea since Ancelotti have taken over have not up to date grab at least a point despite being 2 goals down.

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